Early Cookery Books
By
today's standards, early cookbooks offered very little in the way of systematic,
step-by-step instruction. Quantities of ingredients were rarely given,
and directions were ambiguous. 15th and 16th century books on food mainly
described how to prepare ingredients with health and medicine in mind,
and reflected the medieval preference for heavily spiced foods in vinegar
based sauces.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, distinct national cuisines
began to emerge, though the majority of published cookbooks record only
the food habits of the wealthy. Alongside the growing body of published
cookbooks was a rich oral tradition of shared family knowledge. Most middle
class homemakers learned how to cook by watching their mothers and older
sisters. Family traditions were often preserved by writing favorite recipes
into household journals, which were passed down from one generation to
the next.

From the 18th century onwards, an increasing number of
cookery books were written by and for the growing middle class, which
placed a new emphasis on how to achieve economy in the kitchen. Not until
the 19th century did cookbooks begin to resemble the clear and comprehensive
instruction manuals we use today.